The A's are a sub .500 team and are 7 games out of first place... a whole week behind with only 25 games to play. And they aren't exactly playing barn burning baseball, going 5-7 in their last 12 games.
Their disabled list is filled with people who you might have heard of (Eric Chavez, Ben Sheets, Justin Duchscherer) and when Daric Barton and Kevin Kouzmanoff are your top offensive threats after Labor Day, it is time to play out the string and hope to finish above .500.
So why am I still keeping track of them for the post season?
Because the wheels are falling off the Rangers bandwagon in a hurry. I wrote in June that I wasn't buying the Rangers until I saw how they were after Labor Day. Well guess what? They have a 7 game lead after Labor Day and I'm STILL not buying them.
They've been playing losing ball for a while now and are a combined 14-19 since August 1. And only 1 win this month.
Throw in the fact that Cliff Lee hasn't been himself and needs to skip starts and have a cortisone shot. Throw in their MVP candidate, Josh Hamilton, who is out indefinitely.
Oh yeah, they are also going to play a tough Blue Jays team then an obsessed Yankees team this week.
Could the Rangers go on a prolonged Padres-esque losing streak?
Sure! Why not?
Could the A's feast on the Mariners and a waving the white flag Red Sox team?
It's possible.
Let's just say the A's and Rangers move a little closer to each other in the standings... let's say the A's could cut the lead to 3 or 4 by the time September 23rd comes along.
Then Texas comes into Oakland for a 4 game series...
It's possible. Anything is possible when you take a team's Cy Young Candidate and MVP Candidate out of the equation.
So keep playing hard A's... despite being a losing team with a huge deficit to make up, you are still in it.
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